My Prickly Furball
by Aelibia
Summary: A Firestar centered 50 Sentences on his life from kittypethood to after his life in The New Prophecy.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Forever Yours, My Prickly Furball

**Summary:** A collection of fifty sentences—that I maybe will or won't post on the LJ 1sentence community—revolving around Rusty/Firepaw/-heart/-star of ThunderClan.

**A/N:** It says in my profile that I'm not a Fan Fiction writer, which I guess I'll have to change; I've officially wandered over to the Dark Side, where I join Anakin, Deidara, Darkstripe, and countless others who thought they'd never go there but did anyway. I blame it on Fallacy, who completely harassed me into making a Fan Fiction in the first place. …Okay, she only hinted at it, but it caused me a lot of emotional strife. In the long run, these little 50 Sentence things are probably the only thing you'll see from me, but then I also said I'd never _write_ Fan Fiction, so in a few years I'll botch that solemn promise as well, probably. I will promise you this: I will never write a fic with Sasuke in it.

These 50 Sentences are formally dedicated to my cat Sadie, who got run over very early this morning, being Saturday the fourteenth of July in the year 2007. May she run swift and free with her ancestors in StarClan, and may the ass who ran her over suffer eternally from genital herpes. Amen.

**---------------**

**Fandom: **Warriors; Warriors: The New Prophecy  
**Pairing: **Firestar xSandstorm; Firestar x Spottedleaf  
**Theme set: **Gamma  
**Rating: **PG

**#01 – Ring**

When he was alone in the leader's den and had time to let his mind wander, Firestar would often reminisce about his first Gathering back in the forest, the four magnificent leaders' pelts gleaming from the rock in the middle of Fourtrees when they positioned themselves in the traditional ring-like formation before yowling for the crowd's attention.

**#02 – Hero**

Sandstorm like to tease Fireheart; when they were alone on a patrol or out hunting, she joked about him one day being the Legendary Kittypet Clan-Hero; he would laugh and nudge her sides, trying to make her stumble a bit while on the inside he concluded that he'd enjoy being her personal hero much better.

**#03 – Memory**

Fireheart's favorite memory of Spottedleaf was her smell; as beautiful and inquisitive as the young tortoiseshell medicine cat had been, her smell was the first thing he ever knew of her, and he knew that if he were to peer in the corners of her den—now officially Yellowfang's den—he would find that smell lingering somewhere and be able to imagine her presence at least for a few fleeting seconds before Yellowfang herself caught him and ran him out in false rage.

**#04 – Box**

An almost suffocating warmth, an eternal expanse of white fur, the warm smell of milk, and the rough tumbling of his brothers and sisters—all hidden away in an old FedEx box—were Rusty's only recollections of his mother, but it was the only way he'd ever want to remember her.

**#05 – Run**

No matter how impossible the situation, Firepaw knew he would run a thousand miles to save his friends, even that prickly furball Sandpaw.

**#06 – Hurricane**

On his rare visits to the Tribe of Rushing Water, Firestar and his chosen patrol would sometimes visit the elders in their cave; the story he remembered best came from a mottled gray tabby who spoke of the Great Hurricane that was the driving force of the Tribes' migration to the mountains; immediately following the old tom's description of the disaster he suddenly thought of Sandstorm and turned to her only to find her looking back with a smug look on her face.

**#07 – Wings**

As Firestar looked into the beautiful light of the dawn from his den entrance, he glimpsed two cardinals swooping playfully about in the air, seeming to touch the sky itself, and—with a pang of guilt afterwards—impulsively wished he had wings to fly away from all of this…this responsibility that was as much his prison as his passion.

**#08 – Cold**

Sandstorm had always loved the cold weather for some StarClan-forsaken reason and Fireheart—as his namesake suggested—absolutely hated it, especially the way it matted his fur with the damned unavoidable slush, but he knew for Sandstorm he would brave a thousand leafbares of blizzard after blizzard only if it meant he could be with her again.

**#09 – Red**

Fireheart silently thanked Redtail in StarClan for giving him justice as one of his nine lives; he was absolutely certain with that gift he would give the cat before him a fair verdict.

**#10 – Drink**

When he was in Spottedleaf's den recovering from yet another battle, Firepaw relished the way his fur brushed up with hers as she gently helped him take a drink of river water resting stagnant in the large sycamore leaf before him.


	2. Chapter 2

**#11 – Midnight**

Firestar had heard much about the mysterious Badger Midnight who lived by the sea; he knew he had her to thank for the lives of his Clan and the other three Clans many times over, and would stop at nothing until he repaid that debt.

**#12 – Temptation**

Firepaw wondered if Spottedleaf wanted to be with him, even with her being a medicine cat, and dreamed of the day the temptation—he hoped she felt it—caused her will to snap.

**#13 – View**

When Firestar visited the elders' den in the ThunderClan camp, the going conversation would always revolve around their old forest home somehow, and Firestar himself would long for the stunning view of the river from Sunningrocks; somehow the lake could never quite measure up to the life the river possessed.

**#14 – Music**

He saw the lights and smelled the Twoleg food, but when he heard it he didn't know what to think; it was like someone had captured the warmth of the sunhigh and the sound of a brook and tamed them to do their will; Daisy told him it was called 'music' and the Twolegs often brought it with them when they gathered near her old home in the barn.

**#15 – Silk**

Leafpool had told her father Firestar about the silkworms inside the moonpool; she said they glowed like the moon on a leafgreen night and almost made you think the eyes of StarClan were watching you as you took the ceremonial drink and began to walk among them.

**#16 – Cover**

Firestar paused before leading his Clan members back to the camp; he gazed out onto the open expanse of water that was a cover to the land and silently wondered what would happen should the lake spark rebellion and drive out the Clans like the river did so many moons ago.

**#17 – Promise**

Brambleclaw made a promise to the clan when he took his oaths to become deputy, to finally be the cat that took Greystripe's place, but Firestar still lived in the past; he wondered when he would be assured that saving the son of Tigerstar was truly the right thing to have done.

**#18 – Dream**

Fireheart remembered the dream that had made him go into the forest in the first place, the one that had made his life as a warrior—now Clan deputy—unfold, and wondered if StarClan had been watching and waiting for him even then, when he was still Rusty the kittypet.

**#19 – Candle**

The farm cats told ShadowClan that a Twoleg candle had started the terrifying forest fire, and while some wondered if a different candle had started the fire in that other place, Firestar marveled at the way such a seemingly mindless and plain looking thing could cause such panic and utter destruction.

**#20 – Talent**

Once in a while Firestar would ask Sandstorm where she seriously thought the Clan would be had he never come to the forest, to which she would reply "Certainly not here," and as he silently applauded her talent of boosting his ego, she would finish with a "We'd probably be all living in StarClan on earth," and would then dodge his inevitable paw.


	3. Chapter 3

**#21 – Silence**

Silence met his ears as Fireheart's panic-stricken voice caterwauled out to Spottedleaf from within the dankness of his dream, and just as he felt he would give himself up to the darkness, he pricked his ears to the sound of her familiar purr and the smell of her sweet fur as she came to meet him from the shimmering Silverpelt.

**#22 – Journey**

As Firestar began his journey to reunite himself with the fallen warriors of StarClan, he hopes that somehow he will be able to at least see Spottedleaf again.

**#23 – Fire**

'Fire alone can save our Clan' was the prophecy that Bluestar and Spottedleaf had waited for, he knew, but Firestar wondered if he had _really_ fulfilled that prophecy; he brought ThunderClan through merciless leafbare after leafbare, meet the temporary TigerClan in battle as the leader of LionClan, commanded them—commanded _other_ clans—against the twisted slaves of Bone and the BloodClan, and even played a part in the great migration of the clans, but all at the expense of the lives of many cats; he wondered at last if he had, in fact, failed his warrior ancestors.

**#24 – Strength**

As Firestar ran to meet the rogue cats in battle, he snarled with carnal glee at the satisfaction he expected to receive after ripping the pelts off these pathetic excuses for warriors and running them through with his claws until a river of blood flowed between his paws; he sent a silent prayer of thanks to Runningwind in StarClan for his life of strength—_With this life I give you_ _tireless energy_.

**#25 – Mask**

Fireheart rolled grudgingly in the pile of old fox dung; he knew he would probably be made to sleep outside the warriors' den, but it was worth it knowing he would not be made to sleep outside the clan, forever; the pungent odor was a skillful mask over the distinct scent of the RiverClan warriors.

**#26 – Ice**

When Firestar fell asleep, he always knew when he would be sent to walk with his warrior ancestors; the sudden breeze of snow, ice, and starlight was a dead giveaway.

**#27 – Fall**

Firestar looked down on the sleeping form of Sandstorm beside him in the leader's den and remembered—back when he was still Firepaw—how he once couldn't stand to be in her presence; she was such an old prickly she-cat, and sometimes she _still_ was, but Firestar didn't want to ever be without her ever again.

**#28 – Forgotten**

Firestar knew by now that Graystripe wasn't coming back; he wondered—with a pang deep in his fur—if his closest friend had even forgotten all about him by now.

**#29 – Dance**

Firestar watched the mottled fish dance around in the lake skirting the ThunderClan territory and inwardly reveled in his brief moment of peace.

**#30 – Body**

The sun-drown place—'ocean', Midnight corrected him—was the largest body of water Firestar had ever seen; he wondered if the fish were bigger there, too, and listened to the old badger as she told him of the giant fish that came close to shore once a year and filled the air with their piercing song.


	4. Chapter 4

**#31 – Sacred**

StarClan was sacred to the cats of all clans; StarClan was a source of guidance to medicine cats, a source of power to leaders, a source of stability to the warriors of the clan, and a source of discipline to even the tiniest kit; Firestar thought that, once he had traveled to StarClan for the final time, he wouldn't mind being directly in the middle of all the clans' business.

**#32 – Farewells**

Saying his farewells to his home with his humans wouldn't be all that hard, Rusty reasoned to himself; true, he slept on a bed softer than a clump of moss could ever imitate, he was assured of a full meal even in the dead of winter, he was caressed and scratched by the humans as if he were their last lifeline sometimes, but somewhere inside his chest he could feel the workings of greater beings than his own, and a small voice in the wind telling him to leave; he decided that it was worth it even if he ended up being killed by the wild cats out in the forest, at least then he'd have an amazing story to tell Smudge if they ever met up again after death.

**#33 – World**

Tigerstar, Brokentail—formerly Brokenstar—and an array of other evil cats had chose the dark path in life to tread their pawsteps upon; Firestar wondered if they had chosen another world in the afterlife as well instead of being granted into StarClan; all the many times he had visited StarClan in his dreams he had never seen hide or hair of them.

**#34 – Formal**

The games the clans had decided to play against one another to keep the balance of power intact were formal as they were serious; Firestar laughed when Sandstorm jokingly suggested they have a joke-telling contest among the leaders of the clans; he couldn't imagine Leopardstar to ever stoop to such a level.

**#35 – Fever**

A high fever was the first sign of whitecough, and then the deadlier greencough; Fireheart's breath stuttered when he felt the heat emanating from Sandstorm in waves as he lay next to her before leaping up and sprinting to Leafpool's den across the clearing of rocks.

**#36 – Laugh**

Everything had a laugh, Firepaw thought, even the birds and the fish, they were all just different and had distinguishable sounds and trills inside them; he found he rather liked Spottedleaf's the best of anyone's.

**#37 – Lies**

Longtail himself wasn't a bad tom, Fireheart decided; he was naïve and misguided by Tigerclaw and Darkstripe's lies of power and promises, and he remembered a time when he almost believed that Tigerclaw was innocent of murder; that tom especially had a way with cats, Fireheart would give him that.

**#38 – Forever**

Firepaw detested this horrible fine print apprentice job of cleaning the elders' pelts for ticks and fleas and such, but he'd do it forever if it meant seeing Spottedleaf several times a day for more mouse bile.

**#39 – Overwhelmed**

No matter how many times he went, Firestar would always feel secretly overwhelmed by the cats in RiverClan; he admired their somewhat crazy affinity of water and their skill with it likewise, but also secretly thought they were all a bit sick in the head; cats weren't really supposed to like water, anyway.

**#40 – Whisper**

Fireheart had doubted his own suspicions of Darkstripe's treachery, but when he heard him whisper to Tigerstar of the movements of ThunderClan from under the bushes, he knew that he had been right all along.


	5. Chapter 5

**#41 – Wait**

Fireheart knew he would have to wait for the perfect time to tell Bluestar of Tigerclaw's treachery or she'd never believe him, but she was such a stubborn furball that he seriously doubted if she could ever believe the truth about her beloved deputy unless it was shoved in her face; later Fireheart would regret that the information really was presented to her that way, she had a broken look in her eyes after that.

**#42 – Talk**

What Firestar missed about Yellowfang couldn't be counted on all his paws; he longed for her fiery temper that held the clan together in times of sickness, her determination in protecting the clan that was not hers by birth, the way she could talk for hours on end, holding your rapt attention until the smashing conclusion of her speeches, and, most of all, for her gift of compassion passed on to him.

**#43 – Search**

As the search for the new home for the clans meandered on, executed by cats who were barely even warriors—some really weren't—Firestar remained oblivious to the purpose of their struggle, hurt by their departure and feeling rising tensions among the clans as the twolegs continued to move forward into the forest that had been the cats' home for many generations.

**#44 – Hope**

The naming of Greystripe and Millie's first kit was given to Firestar's mate Sandstorm, and she decided to name it after the one thing that kept ThunderClan going after storms and famine and badger attacks, the gift from StarClan to all the cats—hope; Hopekit mewled in agreement, and the air in the cozy nursery filled with amused purrs.

**#45 – Eclipse**

The first time any of the clans had witnessed an eclipse was after the great migration; legends had spoke of a time of darkness after the leader of TigerClan swallowed the sun during a battle to prove his strength, but here he was doing it again for no reason; the medicine cats dismissed it as another burst of ego, but Firestar sensed there were dark times ahead of the clans.

**#46 – Gravity**

Firepaw never truly understood the gravity of the situation; Bluestar and Lionheart, standing there in the clearing with he and Greystripe, made a split-second, impulsive decision to invite him to the clan, something that had never been done ever before, and _probably_ wouldn't ever again; he was wrong, of course, because since then, Millie and other cats—loners, even—had been invited to clans, integrated among them, trying to find their peace in the world; later—as Firestar—Firestar thought that setting this standard, however odd it was, could be a good thing for all the clans.

**#47 – Highway**

Twoleg paths littered the area around the clans' lake home, paths that had been worn down from the grass by twolegs themselves, and not made of the hard, slippery material that the Thunderpath had been; Millie expressed her delight that she would never have to worry about Hopekit, Whitekit, or Wingkit getting run over by a car on the highway.

**#48 – Unknown**

Shortly after Greystripe's return, Firestar took him—and Millie, at Greystripe's insistence—to his den for a long-overdue chat with his best friend, and Greystripe told Firestar the tale of his journey from when he was caught in the monster's belly and when he was trapped in the twoleg home to Millie's training and their decision to find the clans together after finding the forest in ruin.

**#49 – Lock**

Fireheart's greatest joy about being in the wild was the total absence of a lock of any kind; when he wanted to visit Smudge in the past it depended on the will of his twolegs, but here—when he wanted to visit Sandstorm—he could do so on a whim.

**#50 - Breathe **

Firestar feels himself growing numb with fear and panic—"Sandstorm? _Sandstorm_!"—and he knows he should be running for help, trying to dislodge the water from her lungs, _anything_, but all he can do is stare at her lifeless body soaked with lake water until Mistyfoot and Dapplepaw, gathering herbs nearby when they heard Sandstorm hit the surface and Firestar's alarmed yowl, come rushing to his rescue and perform the standard motions to bring the water back up to where it belongs, thank StarClan, and Sandstorm is left coughing and hacking by the banks; resting in Firestar's den after the medicine cat and her apprentice leave, Sandstorm understands why Firestar froze up—and tells him so—but he's just glad to hear her breathe again.


End file.
